I guess the first question is why you would want to use a watch rather than a phone for recording sports activities such as skiing? Well they main reasons I can think of, you don't always want to take your phone, you want to conserve your phone's batteries (say in cold weather, a long trip etc.)
Anyway here's a fitness watch I found that costs 50 dollars and actually works with Strava (most of the watches at this price point, even with GPS, won't let you access the data)
It records your track, including any uplift, + steps and has a digital compass which could be handy. It uses about 10% charge per hour when GPS is running, so would do a day's skiing if charged over breakfast. 10% charge / day in normal watch mode, so about 10 days between charges if just used as a watch. To give an example. I charged on Thursday, did a 3 hour activity on Friday and am at 45% writing this on Sunday night. Watch is claimed waterproof to 50 meters.
I have no affiliation with the vendor or the manufacturer. Just presenting this 'as is'. Will report back if the watch craps out.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 14-05-19 17:57; edited 1 time in total
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
These little Chinese things are astonishing accurate, far better than a phone. Mrs t_m has one, and it's usually within 10 metres of my Garmin 235 GPS watch. Cost £20 (Xoami Mi Band 3) from Amazon.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Interesting stuff about the walled garden. It never occurred to me that it wouldn’t be possible to get the data from these devices - I’ve only ever used kit where doing this was normal. Times they are a-changing.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Assuming this is the GPS signal crapping out and not you doing circles?? There are a fair few example of it doing similiar things, guess it'd be ok for ski tracks, not so great for running pace etc?
After all it is free
After all it is free
kitenski wrote:
Assuming this is the GPS signal crapping out and not you doing circles?? There are a fair few example of it doing similiar things, guess it'd be ok for ski tracks, not so great for running pace etc?
When I mentioned crapping out I was thinking more of the watch itself breaking, being cheap and chinese.
Those "scribbles" you've spotted are where I stopped and obviously the gps is drifting a bit while I'm stopped. I'm not sure it would be an issue for a run, here is a bike ride where you don't see that as I didn't stop
and here is a walk, so even lower speed but no scribbles
maybe the mountains also had an effect on the accuracy. I would say each blot is about 5 meter radius. Obviously it adds to overall distance somewhat.
The Garmin CTO was saying that he didn't think gps altitude was worth including and it was better to allow an app like Strava add altitude based on their database information if there isn't a barometre in the device. Obviously this requires accurate coordinates from the gps.
I will try and test how accurate the heart rate information is. As it is not integrated with the track it is of limited use except for looking at zones in the application. For people who just want to record a track and have some basic data what this watch gives is sufficient.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@davidof, cheers, that bike tracks looks very good.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@davidof, how's the reliability working out for you? I've just got one, and the basics (GPS, time etc) seem to work fine but the strava upload is flaky (one ride uploads, another won't) and I haven't got notifications working yet on the watch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
mgrolf wrote:
@davidof, how's the reliability working out for you? I've just got one, and the basics (GPS, time etc) seem to work fine but the strava upload is flaky (one ride uploads, another won't) and I haven't got notifications working yet on the watch.
Strava upload is bad, I gave up on it and pull the data straight off the watch/phone. If you know how to run a java program I have some code that will combine the HR and GPS for you then you just upload manually.
I don't know why the Chinese have so many problems with software but it clearly isn't their area of expertise.
Things that don't seem to work right:
i. compass but I've not extensively tested it
ii. notifications, can see them but can't read them
the alarm works but is too quiet to wake me up.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
for info here is a strava upload with combined gps and heart rate data made with my program
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I got the notifications working, enabling sms in the app wasn't enough, I had to also locate my text app in the list. The compass doesn't work for me, it points randomly anywhere other than north! I can live with that though. Otherwise, it seems decent enough so far.
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Poster: A snowHead
